• – The GOP spin cycle has started already with John McCain claiming that Barack Obama’s economic policies will worse the recession that only now have Republicans actually begun to acknowlege as reality even though we, the little people, have seen it coming for YEARS. Just for the record - those of us in the lower tax brackets know who’s responsible for getting us here. And just in case the neocon spin machine tries to blame Democrats for today’s record stock market plunge -  65 Republicans and 140 Democrats voted for the bailout; 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted no. This was a bipartisan defeat of a bill designed to save a bunch of high-roller investors on Wall Street who successfully lobbied George W. Bush and company for de-regulation so they could play fast and loose with our money and our future. Spin that, Karl Rove.

• – After the debate Friday night, I kept mentally replaying John McCain’s oft-repeated remarks about Obama’s not having been to certain countries and being “naive.” So what was McCain saying about his own running mate, who is even less well-traveled than Obama? And what about all the American voters who aren’t 70 years old or even the ones who have never left the country? Are we too naive to have a legitimate opinion on foreign affairs? At least Obama can pronounce the name of Iran’s leader and was mature enough to look McCain right in the eye and address him directly during the debate. McCain was unable to do any of those things despite the wisdom of his age.

• –Sarah Palin has made the theme of the McCain campaign - “I’ll get back to you.” McCain has been doing it too. This summer, when asked about his position on insurance plans covering Viagra but not birth control, he pulled an “I’ll get back to you” himself. But Palin’s mastery of the new GOP mantra has become a punch line. Tina Fey didn’t even need to change the lines to make it comedic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeMypXCUWMw   Brilliant.

• John McCain likes to tout himself as a “maverick” who has rooted out corruption in both parties. He never mentions his role as a member of the Keating Five, a group of senators accused of corruption in 1989 as part of the Savings and Loan scandal, America’s last big financial crisis.

• McCain married two beauty queens and picked a third for his running mate. Evidently the only women worthy of his notice are those who have worn sashes and tiaras. Hmm…

• McCain’s first wife, Carol, was in a devastating automobile accident while her husband was in Vietnam. She was offered the opportunity to communicate with him, but she refused to tell him about her debilitating injuries, saying, “‘He’s got enough problems, I don’t want to tell him.’ When McCain came home and found her crippled, shorter and heavier, he began a series of extramarital affairs, including one with the future Cindy McCain.

• Cindy McCain’s fortune is comparable to that of Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of John Kerry. What happened to the righteous indignation of Republicans who claimed Kerry “sought out millionaire wives to take care of him. Not to put too fine a point on it, he’s a serial gigolo?” (Joseph Farah, World Net Daily, 2004) John McCain, American Gigolo?

• Cindy McCain believes that Sarah Palin’s living so close to Russia actually gives her foreign policy experience. How about the millions of Americans living near the Canada and Mexico borders? Are they qualified too?

• Sarah Palin believes the Iraq War is “a task that is from God.” Welcome back to the Middle Ages, folks! We’re fighting the Crusades.

• One of the pastors who prayed over Palin when she was running for governor is a witch-hunter in Kenya. Really. He brags about having run a witch out of town some years back. In his prayer for Palin’s gubernatorial bid just two years ago, he mentioned “witchcraft.” Okay, so it’s not the Middle Ages; it’s Salem, 1692.

• Palin also believes that we will have to go to war with Russia if Georgia joins NATO and is attacked. Oops, sorry. It’s not the Salem Witch Trials; it’s the Cold War!

• Palin attended five different schools in six years before finally finishing her journalism degree at the University of Idaho. Obviously a dedicated student.

• Sarah Palin supports abstinence-only education. Her teenage daughter is pregnant, due in early 2009. How’s that education policy working out, I wonder?

• Palin wants the media to respect Bristol’s privacy and is proud that her daughter “decided to have the baby.” “Decided.” Isn’t that a synonym for “chosen?” And isn’t “choice” something Palin does not want your daughter to have?

• Sarah Palin likes to “hunt as much as we can.” Evidently, killing God’s creatures for sport is a qualification for vice president. Sure worked for Dick Cheney.

• Palin and her husband have decided he will not heed the subpoena issued by Alaska lawmakers investigating her firing of the public safety commissioner in that state. Hey, at least we know upfront how much she respects the judicial system. Dick Cheney and his cronies didn’t start ignoring subpoenas until they were already in office.

She’s a mother of five. She’s a hockey mom. She’s the mother of a special needs child.  Mothers everywhere are supposed to rally around this woman who “really represents” mothers and women (Rebecca Hagelin, 9/2/2008).

If she’s so worried about the sexists, maybe Sarah Palin should stop playing the mom card every chance she gets. After all, no male candidate, to my knowledge, has ever touted his parenting skills as a qualification for office the way Governor Palin has.

And the whole “isn’t-she-a-fabulous-mother?” thing honks me off anyway because actually, no, I don’t think she’s a very good mom at all, thanks.

Here’s a woman who chooses to have children, and not just one or two, but five. Fine. That’s her choice. But who’s raising these children she was so happy to give birth to? Not her, at least not much, and even less if she gets the VP job. I’m glad she’s got a husband who seems like a good father, and they’re wealthy enough to hire nannies or caregivers or whatever, but that whole idea just bothers me. Why have five kids so other people can raise them? Why have a gaggle of wee ones if your real ambition was to be governor and/or vice president of the U.S. and/or president of the United States? Most ambitious women I know have the good sense to know that just one child requires a lot more time than their chosen pursuit will allow. They choose not to have children or at least suspend or put off their career until the kids are older and more self-sufficient.

Granted, many women in the world cannot stop working when they have children due to economic necessity. God bless them. But obviously, Governor Palin’s not in that category.

Other women love their careers and really want to have children too. Can you do both? Sure. But you HAVE to compromise. Usually, it’s the career that gives. In my own case, I went to a part-time teaching position when my son was born. I love teaching, plus we needed some income in addition to my husband’s. But we have not wavered in our dedication to our kids, and I will not take a full-time position again until our youngest is in first grade.

A governorship cannot give. A vice-presidency absolutely will not give. There will be no compromise. Sarah Palin will see even less of her children than she already does as governor of Alaska. That’s tough enough.

Add to the mix - she has an INFANT, and that infant has special needs. She also has a pregnant teenage daughter. Yeah, I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, but the governor’s the one who put her family in the spotlight. If they think the last few weeks with the media have been rough, they are in for a cold awakening in a Republican January. Oh, and if they do win the election, Governor Palin will be uprooting the whole gang and shipping them to Washington D.C. unless the teenage daughter does marry her baby-daddy and chooses to stay behind in Alaska. Not sure how much support Mom could give her anyway since she’ll be quite busy in the White House. (Let’s hope not.)

So enough with the Sarah Palin, Supermom garbage. If she’s a Supermom, I’m the Virgin Mary.